Tag Archives: Kyle Singler

Duke Basketball

Duke too much for Charlotte in their 101-59 NIT second round win

Nolan Smith - BDN Photo
Nolan Smith - BDN Photo

Durham, N.C. - The Duke Blue Devils rolled past the visiting Charlotte 49ers by a score of 101-59 in the second round of the NIT.  In the process, the Blue Devils climbed to 3-0 on the young season.

The Blue Devils delivered a quick knockout blow in the first half where they took a 30 point lead into the locker room.  There were many bright spots for Duke on a night of career high stats for many players.

Smith's return was just the spark the offense needed.  Smith was the games high scorer with 24 points [a career high] and he tied Scheyer with 5 assists to go with 5 boards and 2 steals.

"Nolan is going to get involved.  We don't have to set anything up for him because he's an outstanding player," said Krzyzewski.

I've been anxious to get back out there.  I was ready to make plays.  I wanted to play well and feed off Kyle and Jon.  They've been playing great basketball and they were looking for me," said Smith

Jon Scheyer chipped in with 20 points and Kyle Singler ended the game with 17.

Duke was also able to use their height as Miles Plumlee had dual career highs of  15 points and 11 rebounds [10 defensive] for his first double-double.

Krzyzewski said of Miles, "He can really run the court and likes to dunk and we like him to dunk [smiling and turning to Scheyer and Singler who nod yes].  His defense was good and his rebounding was good.  With the amount of minutes he played last year, he's still like a freshman."

Brian Zoubek fell one point short of a double-double finishing with 9 points and he tied a career with 13 rebounds.

As good as the offense was, it was the Devils defense which pleased Coach Krzyzewski after the game.  Duke held Charlotte to 33.9% from the field.

The Blue Devils turned in 29 points off turnovers as well and outscored their opponent 42-22 in the paint.  The Blue Devils will now face the winner of the Arizona State- TCU game in New York on Wednesday November 25th.

Duke is now 22-2 all time in NIT play.  Duke extended their NCAA leading home winning streak versus non conference opponents to 71 games.  Duke had an amazing 21 assists with six players recording two or more.

Duke Basketball

Duke coasts to a 74-49 win over Coastal Carolina by playing solid defense

Singler drops 23 on Coastal Carolina
Singler drops 23 on Coastal Carolina

DURHAM, N.C. – Kyle Singler had 23 points and 11 rebounds and No. 9 Duke beat Coastal Carolina 74-49 on Monday night in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

Freshman Andre Dawkins had 13 points and Jon Scheyer and Miles Plumlee added 10 apiece for the Blue Devils (2-0).

They held the Chanticleers to three field goals during a 14-minute stretch of the first half, put themselves up by 25 points with a 24-11 spurt midway through the second and cruised from there to a second-round matchup with the Elon-Charlotte winner Tuesday night.

Mario Edwards scored 12 to lead the Chanticleers (1-1). Their coach, Cliff Ellis, beat Duke three times from 1987-90 during his decade coaching at Clemson. But that didn't translate onto the court for a Coastal Carolina team seeking its first win against an Atlantic Coast Conference team since 1987.

But on a night when the Blue Devils once again were short-handed due to an injury and a suspension, Singler was there to keep them rolling. The ACC's preseason player of the year followed his 20-point performance in the opening win against North Carolina-Greensboro with even bigger numbers, scoring 15 in the first half and finishing 8 of 14 in 36 minutes.

Dawkins, a freshman with a quick trigger from long range, hit two 3-pointers during the overwhelming second-half spurt. The first made it 50-28 with 11 minutes left and pushed Duke's lead into the 20s.

The Blue Devils extended their NCAA-record nonconference winning streak at Cameron Indoor Stadium to 70, claimed their 30th straight win at home against an unranked team and improved to 19-2 in the preseason NIT, a tournament they have won three times.

Coastal Carolina, which was playing its first game against a top-10 team since a 43-point loss to No. 7 Florida in 2002, fell to 1-28 against the ACC and lost its sixth straight road game. The Chanticleers were without three first-year players — including South Carolina transfer Chad Gray — who were serving one-game suspensions for violating undisclosed team rules.

Duke had just eight players in its rotation because guard Nolan Smith sat out the second of his two-game suspension for playing in an unsanctioned summer league and 6-foot-10 freshman forward Mason Plumlee remained out with a broken left wrist. Smith is expected back for the second-round matchup.

Without them, the Blue Devils pushed their lead into double figures to stay by scoring 10 straight points midway through the first half and forcing the Chanticleers into some miserable shooting.

Coastal Carolina reeled off six quick points in the first 2 minutes — but managed just six more during the following 14, when they were held to 3-of-22 shooting while allowing Duke to take a 26-12 lead. The Chanticleers attempted their only two free throws of the half at the 2:20 mark.

Duke Basketball

NIT Opening Round – Official Game Notes for Coastal Carolina at Duke

K LanceGame 2 l NIT Season Tip-Off First Round
Duke (1-0) vs. Coastal Carolina (1-0)
Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 l 7:02 p.m. l ESPNU
Cameron Indoor Stadium l Durham, N.C.

The Opening Tip
Duke (1-0), ranked ninth in the AP preseason poll and eighth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll, faces Coastal Carolina (1-0) on Monday, Nov. 16 at 7:02 p.m. in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Monday's contest will be televised by ESPNU with Mike Gleason and Jimmy Dykes calling the action.

The Last Time Out
Duke opened the season with a 96-62 win over UNC Greensboro on Friday, Nov. 13 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Junior Kyle Singler led five double-figure scorers with 20 points for the Blue Devils. He was 9-of-15 from the floor and added five rebounds, two assists and two blocks in the win. Senior Jon Scheyer closed the game with 18 points and four assists, while Brian Zoubek had 14 points and seven rebounds. Duke also received double-figure scoring efforts from Lance Thomas (14) and Miles Plumlee (10).

Series History
Duke and Coastal Carolina are meeting for the first time on Monday.

NIT Season Tip-Off History
Duke is 18-2 all-time in the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament, including a 10-0 mark in first and second round games played at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils have won eight straight games in the tournament. Duke won NIT Season Tip-Off championships in 1985, 2000 and 2005.

Numbers Game

  • The Blue Devils have won an NCAA-best 69 consecutive non-conference home games.
  • Duke is 23-2 in in-season tournaments over the past nine seasons. The Blue Devils have won seven straight in-season tournament games.
  • The Blue Devils have won 13 straight games and are 26-9 all-time against Big South opponents.
  • Duke has won 29 straight home games against unranked opponents, dating back to a 68-67 loss to Florida State on Feb. 4, 2007.
  • Jon Scheyer (1,367 points) and Kyle Singler (1,080 points) are the highest returning career scoring tandem in the ACC with 2,447 career points. The duo combined for 38 points in Duke's season opening win over UNC Greensboro.
  • The Blue Devils shot .597 (37-of-62) from the field against UNC Greensboro, their highest field goal percentage since Dec. 17, 2007 when they shot .603 (38-of-63) against Albany. The 37 made field goals are also the most since that game.
  • Senior Jon Scheyer had 18 points and four assists (zero turnovers) in 37 minutes against UNC Greensboro. He is now averaging 18.5 points per game since becoming Duke's starting point guard with 12 games remaining in the 2008-09 season. Scheyer also has 33 assists and just 14 turnovers (2.4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio) in that span.
  • Sophomore Olek Czyz recorded career highs in minutes (24), points (6), rebounds (6), assists (3) and steals (2) in the win over UNC Greensboro. Czyz, a native of Gdynia, Poland, scored all six points off dunks on Friday.
  • Duke posted a 44-26 rebounding edge in the season opener against the Spartans. Five players grabbed five or more rebounds with Miles Plumlee leading the way with nine boards.
  • The Blue Devils grabbed 15 offensive rebounds on 30 missed shots (25 from the field and five from the foul line) on Friday.
  • Duke senior class of Jon Scheyer, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek
  • combined for 44 points, 17 rebounds, eight assists and four steals in the season opener. The trio was 15-of-23 (.652) from the field and 12-of-14 (.857) from the foul line in the win.
  • Freshmen Andre Dawkins and Ryan Kelly each had eight points, three rebounds and a blocked shot in their collegiate debuts.
  • Sophomore Miles Plumlee had career highs in points (10) and rebounds (9) and also matched a career best with three blocks against UNC Greensboro.
  • Duke is 47-14 (.770) when ranked ninth in the AP poll. The Blue Devils have won six straight games when ranked No. 9 in the country.
  • Monday's game will be the final game of a two-game suspension for junior guard Nolan Smith. Smith is serving a suspension for a violation of rules pertaining to summer league participation.
Duke Basketball

Duke rips UNCG 96-62 in their season opener behind Singlers 20 points

Photo courtesy Lance King/GoDuke.com
Photo courtesy Lance King/GoDuke.com

Durham, N.C. - The Duke Blue Devils disposed of UNC Greensboro by a score of 96-62 in their home opener as Mike Krzyzewski improved his record to 28-2 in his thirty seasons at Duke.  The Blue Devils were more than a little short handed in the contest with two starters Mason Plumlee out with a fractured wrist and Nolan Smith serving a two game suspension.  Also, missing in action was Jordan Davidson who lost his Grandmother.

Duke got production from it's eight man rotation where two freshman made their Cameron debut.  Andre Dawkins and Ryan Kelly each tallied 8 points in the victory.

If you are looking for difference makers, once again Duke's Dynamic Duo of Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler were willing to take a good portion of the load.

Singler went 9 of 15 from the field for 20 points and 5 rebounds while Scheyer finished with 18 points and 4 assists.  Scheyer ran the point all night and the Devils scored 96 points even though they were not looking to run due to a limited roster and just one true guard in Scheyer.

"I saw a couple of buckets go in and got my confidence going," said Singler.  He continued by stating, "If I'm in rhythm and have my feet underneathth me and it is not a contested shot, Coach K is fine with any of us taking the shot."

The secondary ball handler for much of the evening was Kyle Singler and he handled the duties with ease.  Singler who reworked his body in the off season drew Coach K's praise where he said he was in incredible shape, the best of his career.

Olek Czyz [6 points 6 rebounds] also drew praise from Krzyzewski and the Poland native got his first start in a Duke uniform.  Czyz read the passing lanes making two steals and finishing each one with a dunk which got the crowd into the game.

Speaking of the crowd, they too got props from Krzyzewski and it wasn't just lip service.  The Crazies were the best I have seen in many years for an opener and the stands were packed.

"I was really pleased with our crowd.  The students were great.  It's November 13th and they were fantastic.  It was a lot of fun in here tonight and we are looking forward to Monday and Tuesday and having the same kind of action," said Krzyzewski.

They made sure they serenaded Marshall Plumlee [Class of 2011 prospect] with chants of come to Duke and they were much more spontaneous with the absence of cheer sheets.

Marshall's brother Miles scored 10 points [his first double digit scoring performance at Duke] and led the Blue Devils in rebounding with 9 boards.  Brian Zoubek was also effective going 6 of 7 from the field for 14 points and 7 rebounds.

"We're a little bit more comfortable as a team.  The starting lineup did a great job with Olek Czyz coming in there and playing with a lot of energy," said Zoubek.

Duke shot 59.7% from the field in the game and had 46 points in the paint.  They also scored 20 points off turnovers.

Duke will next face Coastal Carolina who defeated College of Charleston 70-59.  The game tips off at 7:00 on Monday.

Link to Box Score